The Portland daily press., 1887-02-16
EFFECTS OF COCAINE.
Ex-sureeon General hammond De-
scribes> the Sensations.

Ex-Surgeon General. w A. Hammond OF
New York, has been on a tefriEc spree for
science. Is there a cocaine haBit2 DIR.
Hammond says there Is not, and that ne
knows 1t because he has experimental upon
himself for the express purpose Of finding
out. He and few other army surgeons were
acquainted with the peculiar qualities Of coca
twenty years ago and used it TO a limited ex-
tent then but they were able to obtain only
small quantity, and did not make much use
Of 1t in practice because all the properties Of
the drug had not been develoed, and exhaust
i've experiments were not practicable. DIR.
Marasol, queer little old man, who came 10
America as political refugee from Europe.
bringing store ofstrange knowledge. mys-
terious history, and some strange habits, and
who settled at Fall river, knew the virtues Of
coca, and used 1t in his practice dozen years
ago, producing results that puzzled other
physicians He carried much Of his unique
knowledge to the grave, but disclosed the Sc
cret Of the use Of coca In case Of nervous
prostration and brain exhaustion. The local
anesthetic properties Of cocaine have been
known but short time, and II has been
charged that the use Of the drug induces a
habit similar TO the opium habit. which holds
its victims In abject slavery. DR.. Hammond
had used coca wines, fluid extracts, and other
forms Of the drug, but had discharged the
fluid extracts because they were badly borne
by the stomach, and the wines because they
contained tannin and extractive matters, and
differed so much In their effects. He found
that two grains Of hydrochlOride Of cocaine
f0 the mint of vUfna tuaa the
arati0n and produced all the beneficial ELECTS
and none Of the deeteriOus results Then
he began a series Of experiments with hyp0-
dermic injections OF the hydrochlorides 10
ascertain whether the stories about the coz
caine habit were true or false.
'At first injected one grain, and expeien-
eed an exhilaratiOn Of spirits similar 10 that
produced by two or three glasses of ehampa-
gne," said Dr. Hammond t0a Sun reporter.
"My powers Of imagination increased The
physical sensation was a delightful, undula-
ting thrill. l was in very happy frame Of
mind-a s0ciable mOOd--and no doubt would
have been quite agreeable company. The
after effects were inability to sleep until in
the morning, and a headache when got up.
The next night took two grains, and, In ad-
dlti0n to the sensations described. felta de-
sire TO write. had begun letter to a friend,
and under the influence Of the drug | extend
ed what would have been missive Of moder-
ate length to an epistle covering a wide vari---
ETY. Of topics and 4S pages Of paper. It
proved to be correctly written and coherent,
and gave much satisfaction to the receiver
but fonnd that had treated diffusely Of
many things that ordinarily would not deem
worth mentioning III man were desirious
Of writing to gil space, OF utterly exhausting
a given subject even to the most trivial de-
tails, would recommend him to ill his ink
stand, get a ream or two OF paper and plenty
Of pens, and have physician give him a
hypodermic injection Of cocaine. Ify0u want
TO condense your subject don't take cocaine
In large doses. No doubt moderate quau-
tity taken In wine will stimulate the imagin-
alton and enable one TO write more brilliant
ly and with less effort than be otherwise
could. Fnguene sue never wrote without a
bottle Of champagne at his elbow, and the
luxuriance OF his Imagination displayed In
the Wandering jew" may be attributed, In
part, TO the effects OF the wine. The differ
enee between cocaine and alcohol as stimu-
lants Is that alcohol has tendency TO lower
the mental and moral tone and brutalize the
nature. while cocoaine has refining. soften
ing effect. Under the influence Of moderate
doses became rather sentimental and said
nice things to everybody. The world was
going very well, and had a favorable opin-
lon Of my fellow men and women. There
was not bit Of pugnaeity about me, and
l didn't want to fight, argue or dispute with
anyone.
three grains, which unlimbeTed my tongue in
the most astonishing way. | wanted to talk
and did talk, not In the oratorIcal manner,
but was just purely loquaci0us. When no
body was present talked to myself. There
was no disarrangement Of the mental facul-
ties,no disorder Of the process Of thought. l
talked c0herently and correctly, and / am
certain that II had been in the lecture room
l should have spoken much better than | us
ually speak. 1 was perfectly able to restrain
the Impulse to talk, but It was pleasant TO
speak and enjoyed myself hugely. There
was an abnormal quiekening Of the faculties:
the minds operations were rapid, and the
Imagination vivid. Headache followed.
"rhen doubled the quantity Of the cocoa
inc and became somewhat intoxicated. The
scTibbling propensity returned, and wrote
voluminously. | was preparing medical
wsrk, and my nind was full Of the subject
matter. What | wrote was an Introduction
TO the book and thought II very brilliant
production. Ideas came thick and fast, and
was persuaded that my eomposion work
was going TO eclipse anything that l had.
ever done In that line. When put 10 away
and went 10 bed, / congratulated myself that
l should be satisfied with my nights work
when / eh0uld read II over. / didn't sleep
at all that night. When / looked over my
famous introduction / found IL 10 be arrant
nonsense Each sentence was complete and
coherent 1t itself, but none had any relation
10 the others, although all were In the gener-
al line Of the subject / was treating in the
book. The stuff read as whole very much
like dream. IL was mess OF ragged, dis
connected ideas and notions, set down in a
disorderly fashion and containing matter
that did not belong TO an introduction. But
in spite of the rampant disorder Oh IDEAS, l
had no hallucinations, such as are produced
by hasheesh, no grOtesque illusions or In
sane imaginings. The mental machinery
was running with the governor belt thrown
of, and the brain raced, so to speak. Eight
grainslthree nights later produced similar ef-
fects but did not write and the sensation
became rather painful than agreeable,
''The next night determined TO make a
more severe test, and so subjected Is grains
within 20 minutes. The results were stun
ming. became intensely exhilirated, and
finally obliviOus What did, or thought or
felt, don't know, except from clrcumstan-
tial evidence. 1 got to bed in some way. In
the morning found the library In disorder.
All the volumes OF two large cyelopedias
were open and scattered about the floor, as
though had been searching for something
and could not find 1t. had not the slightest
recollection of touching book or wanting to
look up anything Any brilliant idea | might
have had ui-der the influence OF rs grains OF
cocaine Is irrev0eably lost to the world. But
have vivid remembrance Of a most prepost-
erous headache that lasted two days and re-
fused to suceumb TO cold baths. | cured 1t
with strong coffee. Then | stopped the ex-
periments. | acquired no habit and had no
difficulty In quitting the use of cocaine. Ex-
periments upon others and observation Of
the results Of administering cocaine in cumu-
lative doses for three months In cases requir-
ing such treatment have satisfied me that
there IS no cocaine habit. When used to cure
the opium habit BY persons ignorant Of the
proper way Of using 1t, cocaine has produced
bad effects, but an opium eater has habit
Of having habit, and no will power, and II
he were to take sawdust as a substitute Tor
opium he would acquire a sawdust habit.
lake the opium or morphine habit away
from the patient and administer cocaine
properly and you will cure the opium habit
without introducing cocaine habit.
Zone singular effect Of cocaine Is that lt
win induce people to speak who are afflicted
with silent melaneholia. woman VINO haa haal
not spoken for nine months began TO tax
| within four minutes after had Injected t0ur
grains, and in 10 minutes she talked az ,3 tase
| that made up for lost time. Nothing eonlu
stop her Whether this property OF cocaine
Is beneficial and desirable depends perhaps,
upon circumstances.